Tales from The Revenge
by KingdomKey1121
Summary: Elsa and a young boy named Olaf are abducted from a merchant's vessel by a pirate crew. The pair must then learn to be savage pirates or else suffer death. Things are complicated when the ship's captain, Anna, catches Elsa's eye and adds life-threatening distraction to their swashbuckling adventures .
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Hey ya'll. So this is a spin-off of my first Elsanna fic, _Somewhere in Time_, which involved a bunch of different universes. As promised (from much fan persuasion) I am expanding a few of the stories in there, and this is one of them! The first two chapters are already written and can originally be found in the aforementioned fic, but eventually I will continue it (for God knows how long). So... here we go!_

* * *

It was an unpleasant and strange circumstance in which Elsa found herself staring down the barrel of a red-tipped pistol.

The journey across the vast ocean to the New World had been one of business. Her father, a penniless merchant, had become horribly ill the week before he was to depart. He needed to stock up on wares that he would then return with to Europe and sell at raised prices. Elsa, used to his long disappearances, took advantage of his occupation as one of seafaring adventures. As a little girl, she would listen with unflinching awe at his stories of weathering devilish storms and swashbuckling with pirates. Whether or not they were true didn't matter, only that in her eyes her father was a hero. With her only remaining parent now taken suddenly ill, and having no other siblings to shoulder the burden, it was up to the twenty-five year old to go on the journey herself. If she and her father were to stay out of trouble and poverty, it was the course that had to be taken.

It was with a heavy heart that Elsa bid her father farewell as he sat stoically upright against the headboard of the bed, pale and weak from illness.

"Mind yourself," he intoned, kissing her cheek as she leaned over him, tears sparkling in her eyes. "And… Elsa? Have an adventure." Her gaze met his and he smiled meekly. "Let it go." He pressed a small wooden object into her hand; it was a little charm, an ox. She ducked her head and allowed him to hang the creature about her neck. She fingered it affectionately and left a kiss on his clammy forehead in gratitude.

Before she knew it, she was at the dock, staring up at the large merchant ship that bobbing slowly in the dazzling sun of the harbor - a sight she had gazed upon many a time. This time, however, she was to embark upon it herself. She did not mind that she was leaving - no, only the fact that brought her hesitation was that her father would not be accompanying her and may very well lay dying.

"Let it go," he had said. With a last, withered look at the town stretched out behind her, she boarded the ship, slipping the purser coins and signing her name as her father had instructed. With mounting anxiety, she took up a place at the deck's edge, resting her slender hands on the hard wooden railing. Shouts of the crew sounded around her as they prepared to depart. Coiled rope was retrieved and pulled taut, orders were called out from every angle. Elsa looked down into the murky water below, wondering how the wind would feel when the ship was at full sail.

A force from behind nearly propelled Elsa overboard - her navel was pinned painfully to the sideboard and she heard a squeal from behind her at impact. It took her a few seconds of staring unseeingly at the water she had almost been pitched into before it occurred to her to turn around and face the offending body.

It was a boy, no older than ten. He had bright eyes, a goofy smile, and had just dropped the line he held. Elsa kneeled down in front of him as he gazed at her, rubbing his dark-haired head with a small, dirty hand.

"You have a bony butt," he said, but he was still had that goofy smile plastered on his face.

Elsa giggled, hand coming up to cover her mouth. "Are you all right?"

He grinned even wider, showing his whole set of yellowed teeth. "Yup!" He bent to pick up the rope he had dropped and held it up before Elsa. "I'm helping."

"You are doing a wonderful job," Elsa replied.

"I'm Olaf," he said, disregarding her compliment. "Who are you?"

Before she could answer, however, his eyes grew wide and he exclaimed, "You're a girl!"

Elsa stifled another giggle behind both hands, watching the boy's face transform from careless glee to childish confusion. He raised a stiff finger to point, squinting at her.

"It's bad luck."

Elsa's eyebrows rose, but a smile still toyed at her lips. More shouts from the crew.

"They need me," he continued, puffing out his chest importantly. Elsa saw the crew had steered the ship successfully out of the harbor and were setting its course for the open ocean. Elsa felt a pang of excitement when her eyes met the broad horizon, and she didn't notice right away that the boy had taken his rope and scuttled away.

The merchant's daughter spent the day roaming the ship, exploring every nook and cranny that she dared. Once or twice a crew member shot her an unpleasant look, after which she would immediately retreat to the safety of the deck to discover a different enterprise. She took care not to talk to anyone. Not a particularly social creature by nature, she preferred to observe and interact from a distance. Olaf was the only person she ended up speaking directly to the entire day.

The sunset on that first night out at sea was a spectacle - prisms of light danced off the dark water and sprinkled patterns on the mast and in her eyes, almost as if the West was calling her onward. She was only disappointed that the crew roaming the deck around her were indifferent to the beauty.

Her bunk was less of a spectacle. Surrounded by thirty snoring men, she tossed helplessly under the thin piece of cloth and tried not to think about the rats crawling over her feet in the darkness. The only aid she was granted in her pursuit of sleep was the gentle rocking of the ship, persistent in its motions.

When she awoke, she found her arms wound loosely around a small figure. How Olaf had crawled onto her bunk and into her arms without disturbing her slumber was beyond her, yet here he was, face nestled into the crook of her neck. She patted his head lightly, sighing, before resigning herself once more to sleep.

At least she had made a friend.

The next three weeks of the voyage passed in a blur of consistency. The crew did their job and Elsa stayed out of their way. No one spoke to her directly and that was the way she preferred it. She took her meals straight from the galley and out onto the deck. Olaf joined her after a time and they would sit side by side, joking, laughing, and telling tales until the sun, exhausted, hid under the horizon and its cousins, the stars, appeared to relieve it of its place in the sky. Elsa pointed to the constellations in turn, explaining their origins to the wide-eyed, ever-curious boy. Just as her father has done for her all those years ago. There was something about this vast expanse of water that brought out more of the pale beauties, pinpricks on the otherwise inky sky.

It was after one such a night of happy stargazing, the twenty-third night of Elsa's journey across the ocean, that she and Olaf were startled awake by cannon fire.

Disoriented, Elsa sat up, eyes darting blearily around the hold. Half of the crew was thundering up the stairs, some half dressed, and the ones remaining pulling on articles of clothing and grabbing weapons haphazardly.

"Is there a party?" Olaf yawned, rubbing his eyes with his fists.

"Not quite," Elsa said, lifting him from the bunk by his underarms and setting him upright on the floor.

"Will there be dancing?" he asked groggily, swaying with the ship beneath his feet.

"If you would like," she said, swinging her legs over the edge of the bunk. She pulled on jacket over her nightshirt and stepped into a pair of trousers.

"Yes," he said, slowly becoming more awake.

She paused in lacing her boots to smile at the boy, but then the world was splintered as another cannonball connected with the ship - it crashed straight into the hull, whistling past the pair and punching another hole in the opposite wall as it escaped and fell with a splash into the ocean outside.

Elsa and Olaf were thrown to the ground, limbs tangling in debris.

"Olaf!" Elsa said breathlessly, crawling through splintered remains of bunks and materials, trying to find the boy. Distantly, the sound of gunfire and shouting drifted down from the deck as Elsa searched desperately through the rubble for her young friend.

Her bloodied hands finally unearthed a boot and she scrambled to dig the boy out of the mess. He was unconscious, but he was breathing.

A series of thuds was heard from the stairway. Elsa looked over in time to see an unfortunate crew member tumble down and land in a crumpled heap at the bottom of it. Laughter and heavy footfalls preceded a parade of gun-wielding pirates. Half a dozen men spilled into the hold, fanning out to search. The tallest and blondest of the pack, and the apparent leader, was the first to lock eyes on Elsa where she kneeled by Olaf, trying to rouse him.

"Well, well! How interesting," the man said, picking his way through the cannon debris towards her, having to duck his head under the low ceiling.

Elsa watched him approach with dread, eyes wide. Olaf stirred in her arms and her attention was diverted back to him. "Olaf!" she said, shaking him gently. "Everything's going to-"

Her assurance was cut off when a large hand clamped down on her upper arm and she was pulled roughly to her feet, torn ruthlessly away from the boy.

"Stop it, let me go!" she screamed, reaching for Olaf as he too was imprisoned by strong hands and pulled to his shaking feet.

"I think the captain will be very interested to meet you," the tall man breathed into her ear, beginning to drag her to the stairs.

"Olaf! Don't panic!" she pleaded with him, trying to look over her shoulder at the boy, whose cries of desperation pierced through her like a knife.

The man held her weight as she tripped helplessly up the steps and emerged onto the deck, chill ocean wind stinging her face.

"Captain, look what I found," the man said, throwing her to her knees at a pair of sharp black boots. She stared at the intimidating feet before her, terrified, trembling from fear and cold.

A red-tipped pistol passed into her line of vision briefly before it was placed at her chin, forcing her gaze upward to the face of the pirate captain.

"A woman on board a merchant vessel? Now, that is bad luck."

Elsa's fear was instantly replaced by wonder as she took in the sight of the woman above her. A mischievous grin twisted the freckled face that was framed by two plaits of thick, red hair. A floppy, brimmed hat was perched lopsidedly on her head. Her shirt and coat hung loosely on her slight frame, only barely concealing the straps that hung from her shoulders, supporting holsters for the pistol and sword that she held in each hand.

Elsa heard muffled shouts from her left. Minutely turning her head, she saw that the entirety of the crew was in a huddle on the deck, hands tied and mouths gagged. Pirates stood, arms crossed, around them, guarding from dissent. Her eyes flickered back to the captain, whose glinting eyes were still trained on her, narrowing slightly.

Then, the captain spun in her heel and laughed joyfully, skipping over to the hostages.

"Lucky for you, my men haven't found anything worth taking anywhere on your puny vessel. Nothing that we want, anyway!" She made a lazy turn as she paced around her group, catching the eye of the tall man who had apprehended Elsa and winking at him. "We will, however, take these two as a reward for our efforts." She pointed with her sword at Elsa and Olaf. Elsa, having momentarily forgotten the boy, turned sharply to see that he was slung over a pirate's shoulder. He hung limply, but she couldn't see his face to ascertain his condition.

Not one of the merchant crew protested the captain's statement.

"Sorry about the cannonball holes," she said, sighing with mock remorse. "We asked you nicely to slow down and instead you increased your speed. I didn't appreciate that one bit."

She tapped the flat edge of her sword on each head she passed, as though playing some childhood game.

"Retreat to the _Revenge_!" she barked suddenly at her crew and they instantly set to work removing themselves to the menacing pirate ship tethered to the merchant's. The frozen wind ripped into Elsa, tossing her hair around her face, blocking out the sight of the red headed captain striding back over to where the merchant's daughter knelt on the deck. The woman seemed spurred on by the chaos around her. She stopped before Elsa, inches before crushing the kneeling girl's fingers under her boots, and looked to the tall blonde.

"Good find, Kristoff." They grinned at each other in mutual comradery. "Shall we?"

Without further ado, the pair reached down in unison to hoist Elsa from the ground and throw her unceremoniously onto the other ship.

"Let's cast off!" the captain shouted, holstering her weapons and taking her position at the helm.

Overwhelmed by so much change in only a few minutes, Elsa watched the merchant ship on which she was supposed to return to her father drift further and further away. She reached up to grip the ox charm hanging from her neck as a frozen wind billowed the waves in the building storm. She wondered if this was the kind of adventure her father had wished for her.

"Elsa!" Olaf said from behind her. She turned quickly to embrace him protectively, searching for something to hold onto as the rising waves bucked the ship like it were a mere toy. The pirates paid them no mind as they set about keeping the ship afloat through the gale.

The_ Revenge_ pitched suddenly starboard, the figure at the helm spinning the wheel wildly.

"What in the devil's name is Captain Anna doing?" Elsa heard a nearby pirate shout. It was the first mate, Kristoff, who answered.

"Why, this is her idea of fun!" he yelled back, and grinned as the line of the mast he held slid him across the soaked deck.

Using one arm to cling to the sideboard and the other to hold Olaf fast, Elsa chanced a glance up to the helm; a sudden flash of lightning illuminated the captain's face. The grin she bore was that of pure enjoyment - the face of a child. Something in Elsa's stomach dropped at the sight, and the merchant's daughter knew it wasn't seasickness kicking in; it was the sensation of absolute pleasure.


	2. Chapter 2

Elsa couldn't remember a time in her previous life as a merchant's daughter when she felt more free - the world was open to her to devour and she consumed it greedily like she would the first bite of ration after enduring an extended fast. She was aware of her past life and found she didn't miss any part of it, save her father, and she suffered no guilt for her disregard. Hadn't her father explicitly bid her have an adventure? Well here she was, letting it all go. Being kidnapped by pirates was perhaps the single-most stimulating incident Elsa could ever hope to boast of.

The business of conversion to the lifestyle of buccaneer yielded an interesting blend of physical, social, and psychological training the likes of which Elsa could have scarcely imagined. She had not, after all, anticipated in her wildest dreams that she would be a part of the crew of an infamous pirate ship and under the command of a female captain who was incidentally younger than Elsa herself. Fortunately, the rigorous training she had to undergo was not done alone. Olaf had taken the news that he must become a pirate or die with even more enthrallment than Elsa had. With boyish exuberance, he withstood every trial that the first mate Kristoff threw at the pair and his innocent charm and frankness captivated every crewmember on the ship, thus earning both Elsa and Olaf a rapid assimilation into the "pirate family."

Elsa, though friendly with Kristoff and the others, only had eyes for one person - Captain Anna. Although not shy in the least, the captain was oddly hard to find on a ship that only had so many places to hole up in. Even though Elsa was constantly on the lookout for the woman, Captain Anna could rarely be found. Elsa's efforts awarded her fleeting glances of red plaits disappearing around corners and snippets of the boisterous sound of her laughter from behind closed doors. Elsa was unsure what she would even do if she ever actively engaged the captain or came face-to-face with her after so many days of mild pursuit - the mystery was half of the allure.

Then one night Elsa was stretched out on the quarterdeck, stargazing as per usual with both of her hands crooked behind her head for leverage and to give some comfort to her stiff position on the wooden floorboards. The helm rocked lightly by her feet and if Elsa craned her neck forward she could see the wheel and imagine Captain Anna standing at it, steering with reckless abandon, that wild glint in her eye. Olaf had refused to join Elsa that night because Kristoff had promised to instruct him on the basics of poker, and the boy did not want to pass up another means of corruption. The sky was cloudless, the multitudes of stars acting as sentinels over the _Revenge_ and her inhabitants. Elsa found herself becoming wistful as she often did in the silence and presence of the vastness of the heavens.

She ached for her father (even though she adored her new life) and hoped ardently that he was doing well and wasn't missing his daughter too much. If there was one regret to come out of this, it was that she could not continue to the West Indies and secure his wares. Leaving him ill and poor was almost unbearable. The upside to piracy was a share in the spoils of the whole crew, but figuring out a means of sending gold back home was an entirely different story.

Boards creaked from below Elsa as someone climbed the steps to the quarterdeck. The merchant's daughter stiffened but stayed where she was, waiting to see if whoever it was would emerge and discover her position.

The footsteps stopped. Then: "What are you doing up here at this hour, Sailor?"

Elsa started and sputtered: "Captain Anna!"

The captain had her hands on her hips and was smirking at Elsa despite having used a irate tone in addressing her. Intimidated, Elsa scrambled to her feet, her face hot.

"I was surveying the sky… for practical purposes. Weather patterns and all that."

"Oh really?" The captain had ascended the last step and was slowly circling Elsa like a predator. Elsa felt the flush in her cheeks flare up into her ears as her eyes trailed the captain's progress around the quarterdeck. With alarm, Elsa watched the captain reach a hand to the sword hilt at her belt and slowly extract the weapon with a metallic ring. "Do you know what the punishment is for lying on this ship?"

Elsa swallowed hard and merely shook her head in the negative, unable to speak.

The captain approached Elsa, who remained frozen in place, and let her sword run up the outside of Elsa's pant leg. When it reached her hand, Elsa blanched and retracted her fingers as the sword was dropped from her side.

"Let me tell you a secret." At this, the captain resumed her steady trail around Elsa, sword still held loosely in her grip. Elsa pivoted on the spot, so as to keep the blade and its owner in sight. "We don't have a punishment for that particular offense."

The captain came to a halt and met Elsa's eyes for a moment before bursting into laughter and re-holstering the sword.

"But I sure scared you, didn't I?" She was almost crowing with delight at the pallid face of her shipmate. Words were lost on Elsa and she merely stared at her captain's mirth.

"I really do want to know what you were doing though. For curiosity's sake." Captain Anna swiveled completely to face Elsa and cocked her head to the side, anticipating an answer.

"If you must know," Elsa said, slightly annoyed at being startled by the captain's feigned assault. "I am fond of the stars." At this she gestured vaguely at the dark sky overhead.

Captain Anna glanced up to consider the dots of light above, scrutinizing them like they were a particularly difficult arithmetic question.

"They are pleasing to the eye," the captain said finally, sitting down cross-legged on the floor. She looked up at Elsa and gestured for the merchant's daughter to accompany her.

Elsa was enlightened considerably by her conversation with Captain Anna that night. She learned that Anna had inherited the title from the former captain of the _Revenge_, a man who had been like a father to her and Kristoff, who were both orphans. Anna had been the first mate at the time of her predecessor's death and only nineteen. Fortunately, the crew had no qualms about this appointment and put up no resistance. Anna had been captain since, and this marked the third year in which the fiery redhead commanded the vessel. A ship of pirates could not have a more enthusiastic or passionate leader, in Elsa's opinion.

Elsa's own history was then disclosed and to Elsa's surprise, the captain became somber at the knowledge that her captive's retention was detaining her from her dying father. A sensitivity lived inside of the outgoing captain and the new layer captivated Elsa even more.

It wasn't until clouds began to overtake that which they observed and a cold wind appeared did the two women end their conversation and retreat to their quarters. Captain Anna took the liberty of walking Elsa to the hold in which Olaf's and her cot was kept, even though the route was in the completely opposite direction from the captain's cabin. Anna's expression as Elsa reached for the door gave the merchant's daughter pause. Elsa waited patiently for the captain to speak.

"We haven't had another woman on this ship since I was a little girl. Having you about, Elsa…" the merchant's daughter felt chills go down her spine at the use of her name. "...allows me a sort of pleasure… one I had forgotten. I apologize for stealing you from your father, but I hope the _Revenge_ will treat you as kindly as it has I."

The captain reached up to awkwardly grab hold of Elsa's upper arm, gave it a squeeze and then turned to stalk away. Elsa was still fixed to the spot, hand on the door to the hold, when Olaf came upon her.

"Elsa?" he was a bit drunk on rum. "What're you doing?"

"Nothing at all. Let's get to bed."

* * *

The first real test of Elsa and Olaf's piracy training came a week after the stargazing incident with Captain Anna.

Olaf was attempting to teach her poker on deck. Elsa was only half listening to his instructions, hopelessly distracted as she was by the wind whipping the red plaits and material draped loosely around the slim figure at the helm. At the time when Elsa was about to surrender her hand and abandon the game, a shout went up from the crow's nest - the lookout had spotted another merchant vessel. Kristoff sprinted past the pair from his previous position near the bow. It was obvious that his presence was needed at his captain's side.

One quick glance was all Elsa needed to ascertain that same excited look she had seen on Anna the stormy night that the captain had abducted Elsa and Olaf. Anna spun the wheel sharply and the Revenge lurched starboard in haste to obey her will.

"Gunners, man the cannons!" More shouts went up as the crew hurried to their positions. Olaf, with an excited squeak, scrambled down below deck with the gunners to act as their powder monkey. It was then that Elsa remembered her own duties and joined the boatswain at the foremast.

"And heave!" At the command Elsa and the other sailors tugged hard at the ropes in their grips. The heavy line rubbed Elsa's slender hands raw but she didn't relinquish her hold. The wish to impress the captain occurred suddenly and without warning and it accorded Elsa a newfound strength.

Soon the _Revenge_ was astride the merchant ship, bearing down mercilessly.

"FIRE!" screamed Captain Anna and cannons burst forth, the bombardment cracking and splintering the hull of the ship alongside of the pirate's. Volley after volley smashed into the merchant vessel, debris soaring through the salty air and splashing into the restless navy sea below.

"Ready to board!"

The crew drew swords all along the deck and began to utter aggressive cries of attack. Elsa drew her own blade, wishing now that she had had more sparring experience. She listened to the heart pounding fiercely in her chest and eyed the gap between the two ships that she would need to leap.

Then, there was an arm wrapped around her waist -it was none other than Captain Anna, grinning eagerly, rope in hand. "Ready?" The captain didn't wait for a response - she took off, hauling Elsa behind her. Before Elsa knew it, the pair had run and vaulted side-by-side off of the Revenge and swung safely onto the deck of the merchant ship. The women had led the charge and the rest of the pirate crew was now landing around them, all still yelling a barrage of intimidating hollers. Anna released Elsa and set about assailing the sailors around them, blade flashing. Elsa had never seen anything so beautiful as the skill and intensity with which the captain duelled. It was as though the sword in her hand was only an extension of her limb, metal and flesh one in the same.

"Hey!" The clanging of a sword above Elsa's head and then Kristoff was pulling her away from an aggressor. "This is no time for daydreaming!"

Elsa shot him an apologetic and grateful look and commenced engagement of a nearby sailor in combat. Her own dueling skills proved far below Captain Anna's. They were in fact nauseatingly sub par and Elsa found herself not only fearing for her life because of it, but dreading Anna's remarks if the captain saw her abominable swordsmanship.

She managed to brush off one sailor but another caught and pinned her against the wooden sideboard, his blade across hers as she struggled to shove away his weight. Reduced to her last resort, she lifted a leg and stomped down, crushing the man's toes under her heavy boot heel. He cringed away, releasing the force he had pressed upon her. She knocked her sword against his and he staggered backward, falling sluggishly. Loosing a cry of triumph, she spun to regard the rest of the melee on the deck but was no sooner struck in the jaw by an elbow and thrown against the sideboard once more. A prompt kick to the chest had her falling astern, the world twisted upside down until she was enveloped in cold, dense water.

Stunned, Elsa let herself float for a few seconds as she grasped the fact that she had been mauled overboard. With a kick, she surfaced and panic set in as she beheld the massive ships heaving at either side of her. The waves churned by the great vessels buffeted her, threatening to thrust her under again. With every surge of seawater, the distance between herself and the ships increased. She tread water, letting the current carry her, knowing she didn't have the energy necessary to swim closer.

Then, an object hit the water a few yards away - attached was a rope. The crew members on the Revenge must have seen her fall and sent her a line on a piece of wood. What emerged from the depths, however, was in fact Captain Anna. The captain had personally dived in to rescue Elsa - the merchant's daughter felt her throat close up in wonder and fierce appreciation.

The redhead swam over to where Elsa tread - the rope was tied around the captain's waist.

"You're more trouble than you're worth," Anna panted as she neared, but she was smirking.

Soft hands gripped Elsa's waist and the captain pressed herself close. She tugged on the line that attached her to the _Revenge_ and the pair began to move toward it as crew members dragged them upward.

When the women hit the deck, soaking and gasping for breath, they collapsed on their backs, not bothering to disentangle their legs from one another. Elsa saw that the merchant ship was being allowed to drift away.

"Did- did we- get what we- wanted?" Elsa had to take a breath between each word in order to speak.

"We had to abandon the operation," Kristoff said grumpily from above the women. "Apparently the Captain believed you to be a more important asset than all the gold we could have obtained."

The first mate trudged away. Anna let her head slump to the side on which Elsa lay and huffed, "excuse his jealousy - he knows well enough that I would not do him the same kindness were he to fall overboard... he is entirely capable of rescuing himself, of course."

"But I would have the decency not to go over in the first place!" Kristoff called from the stern.

"Elsa, are you okay?" Olaf's black hair and bright eyes appeared above Elsa, blocking her view of the blue sky. "I heard you fell overboard!"

"I would rather you did not mention it," groaned Elsa, sitting up and rubbing her head. Anna began to laugh and Elsa glowered at her out of the corner of her eye.

"Say, Captain?" Olaf turned to Anna. "Since the danger's passed, would you teach me how to steer the _Revenge_? You did promise."

"I always keep my promises," the captain said, standing and ruffling the boy's dark and already messy locks. "Care to join us, Elsa?"

If Elsa thought the sunset from her first merchant ship was a spectacle, it was nothing compared to a sunset from the helm of the _Revenge_. Anna taught Olaf how to grip the handles of the wheel properly and he did so, giddy with excitement. After some sharp turns that made a few barrels on deck tip and roll thither, she gently pried his small fingers from the wheel and let Elsa have a try. After some hesitation from the blonde, Anna took Elsa's hands in her own and guided them to the wheel, murmuring instructions into her ear.

Elsa hoped Olaf couldn't see the red that had crept slowly into her face, and if he did, that he supposed it an effect of the light from the disappearing sun.


	3. Chapter 3

The suitable punishment for the appalling mistakes done by Elsa during the siege of the merchant ship was only delayed until the next morning. Elsa was rudely awakened by a smirking Kristoff. "You'll be in the crow's nest today. It's obvious that you're hopeless in a fight, so the Captain set me the task of finding you an occupation with more promise. For some reason, she's all for exerting the energy necessary to keep you alive for longer than a day. Personally, I'm surprised you've lasted this long."

Elsa shot him a glare at this speech. She had gotten out of her cot as he spoke and was dressing while the first mate stood over her, arms crossed. He ignored the fire in her gaze and continued, "we'll see today if your eyes are any better than your muscles and whether we'll ever find a use for you."

The day proved to be blistering hot and mere minutes after the two emerged onto the deck, Elsa could feel her shirt sticking to her bare torso under the vest she wore. The heat seemed to have rendered the crew lazy; most of the men were wandering about idly, pressing bottles to their lips and gazing about lethargically. No real work was getting done except the random pulls from the boatswain to right the sails when the breeze changed direction. _The Revenge _appeared a harmless vessel when not in pursuit of another ship and the shift in perception threw Elsa for a loop. She was suddenly less intimidated by piracy as the bright sun beat down on the _Revenge_, throwing it and its inhabitants into a sharp relief. Under the cover of the darkness of night or a storm the crew was menacing, but in the daylight Elsa realized that the pirates were people too, people who had merely a different lifestyle from the more law-abiding seafarers.

It was amid such thoughts that Elsa noticed a group of crewmembers huddled in a circle near the quarterdeck. They appeared to be playing a game with dice and Olaf was among them. The boy had fallen asleep in her arms the night before and she was always surprised by how easily he could go about their shared cot without waking his companion. With a prickle of shame, she wondered how much longer she had slept, for the entire crew seemed to have already risen, and the sun was rather high in the sky.

Also among the group of gamblers was Captain Anna. Elsa saw this and started, for it was not often that the captain could be witnessed mingling with the crew. Usually she was at the helm with Kristoff or shut up somewhere below deck. Elsa thought about her first weeks on _The Revenge _and how she had hoped and prayed for even a glimpse of the redhead. Now here she was, perched on the sideboard of her beloved ship, watching from above as the game progressed. The brim of her hat cast a shadow across her face, the line of which cut the freckles on her cheeks and nose in half. Her vest was discarded beside her and her shirt had a few buttons undone, bearing an even more freckled chest. As if she felt Elsa's stare, the captain glanced up and caught the merchant's gaze from across the deck.

A smirk twisted its way onto Captain Anna's face and made Elsa, already flushed from the heat, glow even brighter. Kristoff broke the eye contact by shouldering Elsa, who subsequently stumbled into a barrel nearby and then righted herself self-consciously.

"Come on, it's this way," the first mate said, shoving her once more.

Another glance at the captain told Elsa that the redhead had seen this exchange - although she was now regarding the game once more, Elsa saw that Anna was shaking with restrained laughter. Mortified, Elsa allowed herself to be led to the mast by Kristoff. The height of the giant pole proved to be daunting, especially as Elsa stood before it, eyes studying the route she would have to take in climbing it. With another exaggerated shove from Kristoff, Elsa unsteadily mounted its base. She found footholds in the rope wound about the bottom but her hands were left to scrabble for a second before resignedly wrapping themselves around the circumference of the mast.

It took all of Elsa's willpower not to look over at the captain once more. She felt decidedly the butt of some sick joke; surely this was not a real occupation on board the ship. And yet, above her was the crow's nest and sticking out over the side was the lookout's head, eyes glinting in amusement over his beard as he watched the woman below him struggle to reach the perch in which he sat.

Throwing her dignity to the wind, Elsa took a leap and wrapped both arms and legs as far around the mast as she could. Once stuck three feet above the deck of the ship, she was unsure what to do and nature took over, pulling her back to the wooden planks below her in a comically slow descent. Kristoff and several other crew members guffawed heartily at her blunder but a voice cut above the laughter.

"Are you going to stand there and take the piss out of her, or teach her how to do it properly?" Captain Anna was addressing Kristoff from across the deck, boot heels thudding loudly at her approach. "Or do I need to find someone else to do the task I assigned you?"

The captain and first mate glared at each other momentarily as Elsa got back on her feet, avoiding eye contact with everyone. Kristoff had opened his mouth to retort when Olaf moved into the circle, interrupting the argument.

"I'll show you, Elsa!" The dark-haired boy quickly grabbed a length of rope from a hook suspended near the door to the hold and came back brandishing it like a weapon.

"You get some rope… and you tie a knot in it like this…" Elsa had to lean away a few times to keep the ends of the quickly moving rope from hitting her in the face. When he finished the knot, he held it up for Elsa's inspection. She got an eyeful for mere seconds before Olaf retracted it and began throwing it around the mast. "Then you tie it on there like this…"

After a flurry of movement which included a few full spins, the boy stopped and was securely tied to the mast. Elsa was thoroughly lost, not having taken in any of it.

"Does that make sense?" the boy asked, tilting his head to the side and panting slightly. "It's easier than it looks."

Elsa nodded slowly, eyes wide.

"But once that's done, you just have to use the footholds over here…" Olaf circled the mast and Elsa followed, not believing what she was hearing. There were indeed footholds on the opposite side of what Kristoff had shown her. Upon the realization of an easy ascent, she immediately rounded on the first mate, finding sudden confidence in her anger and embarrassment.

"How did you think I was going to figure out how to do it if you weren't going to provide me with the proper tools?"

"Whoa," said Kristoff, holding up his arms in surrender. "It was a bit of fun, all right?"

"Well, that's that," said the captain, smirking at Kristoff's discomfort and Elsa's daring. "Kristoff, you're off the job. Olaf, want to earn a few extra coins?"

The boy nodded vigorously. "I'd do anything for you, Captain Anna!"

"Good," she said, ruffling his already disheveled mane. "You have the privilege of training Elsa to successfully reach the nest. Marsh will take it from there."

"Aye!" crowed Olaf dutifully. The captain backhanded Kristoff's stomach playfully and led him away but not before throwing Elsa a curious, narrow-eyed glance.

After Olaf took over, the work was short. Merchant's daughters were not meant to climb but Elsa did her best to pretend she was a natural. She told herself it was so she could fit in faster with the crew and not be such a burden, but she knew that the real reason was to impress Captain Anna with the haste of her learning. In addition, she did not want to be an embarrassment any longer than she had to be.

It was a pleasant surprise, then, when she found herself at the top of the mast, hauling herself over the ledge and into the crow's nest. Olaf and Marsh stood watching from inches away (there was only so much room up there) as she caught her breath; it was still unbearably hot and the sun continued to beat down mercilessly. She gave a sign of non-verbal confirmation of her condition to the other sailors in the nest with her. When she finally straightened up, she allowed herself to survey her surroundings, something she refused to do on the climb in case she was distracted enough to lose her hold and fall. The added height gave the sea a new dimension and although there was nothing new on the horizon, Elsa absurdly felt that if she stood on tiptoes she'd be able to spot land - if only she could get a little higher.

The ship itself looked different from above as well. Elsa kept finding new perspectives from which to view her new life and each one was securing more strings of attachment. She could never have guessed how easily she'd have given in to piracy. A glance over to the quarterdeck reminded her exactly how. Captain Anna was once more at the helm. She was staring intently at a compass, one hand on the wheel as Kristoff bent over a map a few steps behind her. In the heat she had abandoned her vest and the dirty shirt she wore underneath stuck to her in an oddly flattering way. Elsa looked away again as she felt her stomach twist in a way that was not altogether unpleasant.

A deep grunt from Marsh brought her attention back to the task at hand; that is, how to be a lookout. He grunted again and pointed out; Elsa followed his finger to find nothing in particular and glanced back at him in confusion.

"He doesn't really talk much," Olaf explained. "I think he saves his voice for shouting down instructions for when he spots something."

The lookout did nothing to either confirm or deny this statement and Elsa finally focused on the man next to her. He was only a few years older than herself but the thick, black beard made him seem more advanced in age. He had piercing eyes like Olaf and something in them told Elsa that he was a bright man despite his lack of speech. He also wore no shirt and Elsa hoped fleetingly that Olaf would not eventually think to take after him in that respect.

"Wait, if he doesn't speak, how is he going to teach me how to be lookout?"

"I'll translate!" Olaf replied, puffing out his chest importantly.

Elsa sighed. This was turning out to be an unnecessarily difficult day.

It took a good chunk of the afternoon for Marsh to relay all of his instructions to Elsa. It turned quickly into a ridiculous guessing game which involved Marsh gesturing and Olaf spouting random and ridiculous conjectures to which the lookout usually shook his head with a frown that was barely discernible through his thick beard. It occurred to Elsa somewhere in the middle of Olaf's muddled explanation of the sail rigging that being the lookout was most likely an extraordinarily boring job. It was no wonder Marsh had the privilege - since he was mute no one missed him on the deck. Then it occurred to her that she was being trained to do this very same job, which Elsa could only take to mean that no one wanted her on deck either. This caused a brief surge of anger to once more flare up in her.

No sort of reprieve from the "lesson" came until much later in the afternoon. It was almost time for dinner; Elsa could tell because her stomach was growling and most of the deck below had cleared of crewmembers. The heat of the day had finally gotten the best of Olaf - he was slumped on the floor of the nest, still muttering nonsensical translations. Elsa herself was dozing and she could feel a burn from the sun rising on her pale cheeks. Between daily mortification and the blazing sun, she'll be permanently red with her luck. Just as Elsa was pondering the difference in shades between Captain Anna's hair and her own face, the woman in question appeared at the edge of the nest.

"Is she ready, Marsh?"

"For what?" Elsa said, startled out of her reverie and sitting up straighter.

The lookout nodded with a grunt and proceeded to exit the nest, swinging his legs over the raised walls and out onto the yard for the mizen mast, balancing like a monkey. Olaf woke sufficiently at the lookout's movement and immediately followed Marsh out onto the yard before Elsa could stop him. Captain Anna climbed further into the nest, landing in the empty space left by the two others, right next to Elsa.

"All right Sailor, show me what you've mastered," the captain said, freckled face inches from Elsa's. Her vest was still discarded and Elsa was now faced with that open shirt. Overwhelmed, the blonde tried to back away but found her escape blocked by the raised walls of the crow's nest.

"Right," muttered the blonde, turning about face to catch her breath. Marsh and Olaf were straddling the yard just beyond the nest, staring at her expectantly. Looking down at her hands and shaking herself slightly with a reprimand of buckling so easily under Captain Anna's proximity, she started through the motions of setting up the nest for the day, à la Marsh. The captain seemed lenient when Elsa was without a name for something, as she must have realized Marsh could only teach her so much without using his tongue. When, however, Elsa found she was at a loss for what to say or do when one actually spotted something of importance, Captain Anna was not so sympathetic.

"Well?" the captain prompted.

"Er- land ho?"

Olaf and Marsh both snickered and were quickly silenced by the unsheathing of the captain's sword.

"Aside from the last, you've done fairly well, sailor," Captain Anna said, turning the blade on Elsa. The blonde was finding herself at the captain's mercy increasingly often. "But I have one last test for you. Out on the yard."

The two already perched there moved back to make room on the thin piece of wood. Elsa unsteadily climbed onto it, desperately attempting not to consciously notice the distance between the mizen yard on which she stood and the _Revenge_'s deck far below.

"Tie this about your waist." A thick rope hit Elsa's back and wrapped itself loosely around her shoulders, almost sending her off balance. With shaking fingers, Elsa secured the line around her middle, wondering what on earth Anna was to have her do. She need not wait long to find out; Captain Anna was soon right behind Elsa and the yard made for holding sail was groaning under the weight of the four people atop it.

"The life of a pirate, Elsa, is one of incredible danger." Captain Anna's excitement was undoubtedly high; she now spoke loudly and with bravado, as though building up to the height of adventure. "In fact, we must learn to live every day with the verifiable truth that any of us could be dead at the bottom of the ocean at any time." She took a step closer to Elsa, the smirk peeking out from under her hat brim growing wider with each word. "A pirate need always be prepared for the worst." The sword found Elsa's throat. "Are you prepared for the worst, Elsa?"

Even before the merchant's daughter could respond, the blade was gone and Anna's free hand had given Elsa's chest a good shove, sending her soaring bodily from the safety of the yard and into the open air. Elsa could just hear Anna yell, "I would hold on tight!" before she her ears were filled with wind as she plummeted down to the deck. A hideous knot of fear twisted her stomach in the seconds before the rope went taut and her breath was knocked out of her. The rope swung her forward to the mast and she barely caught herself against it with her feet. Her palms which clung to her lifeline were slick from sweat and her shirt was drenched once more, but she was alive and for that she was glad. For a moment she dangled from the rope in disbelief and when her senses returned, she realized the trio above her were cheering and applauding. Captain Anna lowered herself down the nearest shroud and came to rest level with Elsa as the blonde struggled to find a foothold on the mast, still gasping for breath.

"You passed," said the captain, grinning heartily at Elsa before continuing on her way down.

Elsa, still very shaken from the sudden fall, required Olaf's clumsy help in getting back to the deck. She could have kissed it when her feet finally reached the solid wood, and so exhausted was she that she had no choice but to lower herself to the floor and allow a concerned Olaf to fetch her dinner.

It seemed her unconscious goal to impress the captain had failed miserably; in fact, Anna had been more successful in uncovering her talent of making a fool of herself. However, Elsa couldn't help but think of Anna's smirks and how far they were from unkind - amused, yes, but friendly all the same. This gave her satisfaction as the sun set around her. The stress of the day had done a number on her and now she was content to sit on the deck for a while, even until the stars came out. Elsa spent so long recovering that those silvery pinpricks did eventually did appear and Elsa couldn't help but wish that Anna was alongside her, reliving that night on the quarterdeck. Not long after the sun disappeared on the horizon, the door to the galley opened and Elsa, despite herself, looked over at the burst of light and sound in anticipation - of what, she couldn't say. The shadow formed on the ground from the galley light was definitely Anna's - Elsa could recognize the shape of that hat anywhere. After a moment, however, the door closed again and Elsa was left alone in the dark.

* * *

_A/N: Woo! I'm back! I'm busier in summer than during school, what's up with that? I'll try to update regularly though, so hope you guys are ready for some pirate action!_


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